If Mason Crane makes his England debut in Sydney this week then expectations should be tempered, while Joe Root, his captain, must send the young leg-spinner into the heat of an Ashes battle with an attacking mindset but a sympathetic field.
The worst you can do with a wrist-spinner is to talk to them about the run-rate. Instead the message should be to toss the ball above the eye-line, spin it hard and forget the scoreboard. If necessary, stick a couple of sweepers out on the boundary for early protection – you can always bring them in – and this will help build up their confidence.
In Australia we know the value of leg-spin; that they can be dormant for long periods of the match before suddenly turning into potent weapons as conditions change deep in the game. England’s history here is not exactly one of patience and if Crane is to be judged, it is important we do this over a period of time and not just in the coming days.
Crane, like any leg-spinner, needs to be backed to get it wrong. Allan Border was brilliant in this regard with a young Shane Warne, who took one for 150 on his debut at the same ground against India in 1992 but still went on to have a handy career built on the early foundations of his captain’s support.
From a tentative start, Warne’s big strength became his cricket brain and a natural showmanship that turned any cricket ground in the world into his personal stage. By the end he had a big leg-break and one that just slid on, and yet had become the king of the mind games such that he could work out a batsman quickly and deliver on his set plan with unerring accuracy.
Profile
Meet Mason
Born Feb 18 1997, Shoreham-on-Sea
County Hampshire
Position Leg-spinner; right-hand bat
First class debut v Durham 19 July 2015. Took five wickets in match, including all four in second innings
Test caps 0 ODI apps 0
T20 apps 2
Career highs so far Taking Kumar Sangakkara’s wicket on first XI debut for Hants; dismissing AB de Villiers for England in summer T20
When it comes to Crane I think England have made a very shrewd move in linking him up with Stuart MacGill as a mentor over the past year. He was a very special bowler – 208 Test wickets and 12 five-wicket hauls from just 44 matches tells you that – and one who kept striving despite the challenge of playing for one spot in which the incumbent was arguably the greatest of all time.
MacGill had a fine array of tools, from a big-turning leg-break to a superb wrong ‘un through that round-arm style. But what impressed the most – and will serve Crane well – is that despite perhaps sending down the odd four-ball (and more than Warne in this regard) he never compromised on his aggressive approach. And my word he could send down some rippers.
He will be reinforcing the process with Crane this week, putting the delivery of the skill at the forefront of his mind rather than the consequences of any mishap. This should be the approach for all players, of course, but even more so with leg-spinners given it is arguably the most challenging discipline going in the sport and one that requires significant mental strength.
So Crane, like any leggie, needs to be backed to occasionally get it wrong when striving to bowl his best ball as often as possible. This is what Border did with Warne early on in his career, constantly pushing him to send down his hardest-spinning leg-break rather than sweat about the inevitable long hop or full toss that might occasionally follow.
Adil Rashid, who I worked with at Yorkshire, certainly benefited from being told that no bowler in the history of the game has been hit for more sixes than Warne and it transformed his confidence. I still believe he can have a fine Test career, even though it seems the England management have currently taken a view that his skills lie in the white-ball formats.
Right now, in my role as head coach at Adelaide Strikers, I am enjoying working with another leg-spinning Rashid in Rashid Khan. One of the best things about Afghanistan being granted Test status last year is soon we will be able to see him in action on the highest stage of all. He fires it down at serious pace – think Anil Kumble but with more turn – and has a googly that baffles batsmen.
There will be challenges when this prodigious 19-year-old does eventually make the step up. The players he will face will have less urgency to score than the ones he has faced in Twenty20. Fewer opportunities will arise and he will have to adapt accordingly.
But like Crane’s possible debut this week, I cannot wait to see how he goes. Because when a leg-spinner is twirling away at the back end of a Test match, with the pitch having broken up and the footmarks turned into craters on the face of the moon, there are few more compelling sights in this great sport of ours.